Human Killing Machine: Recoded
Human Killing Machine: Recoded is a game created for the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It is the supposed reboot to the game Human Killing Machine, a supposed "sequel" to [[wikipedia:Street Fighter (video game)|the original Street Fighter game]], despite being created by Tiertex instead of Capcom and having little to no similarities to the actual Street Fighter game besides the genre. Despite this, Recoded is generally considered a Street Fighter spinoff due to the similarities the games share (Capcom did some of the developing) and HKM's association with Street Fighter since its conception. Similarly to the first game, the game stars somewhat stereotypical characters from their mother countries (the original featured a bullfighter from Spain and Lebanese terrorists for example). Some of them are somewhat comical and absurd, giving the characters a similar vibe to those from Punch-Out Wii. Gameplay The gameplay of Human Killing Machine: Recoded is relatively similar to the gameplay of the Street Fighter series, but the game does have some differences and elements from other fighting games mixed in as well to make it distinct from the game series in which it is based upon. The game is mostly combo-based similarly to its game of origin; with high strategy being needed to play the game competitively. The game specifically designates separate buttons for special and regular moves in order to make the gameplay and combo-memorizing less confusing. The game's dodging techniques are largely based off of Rivals of Aether and the Smash Bros. series. There are two options for dodges; shielding and parrying. Shielding is mostly based on Smash Bros.'s style of dodging, with a shield that prevents attacks yet hinders the opponent if broken (instead of stunning the player if shield breaks the player gets a minor power drop. Rolls and air dodges also exist too; the air dodging is based on that of Melee, although there is no technique based on wavedashing. Parrying is the technique based off of Rivals of Aether, and it requires much more skill to actually use. It is essentially a counterattack; if an opponent attacks the user and the user times the parry correctly the user will damage the opponent for half the amount of damage the normal attack would have given. Like the dodging system, the attack system also has roots in other popular fighting games. The special, combo-based moves and the regular physicals have separate buttons, preventing confusion. The physical button contains most of the "normal" attacks, the regular punches, kicks, etc. Like Super Smash Bros.'s non-special moves, each characters' regular attacks have the same basic inputs albeit the actual attacks are different for each character. The special moves are the attacks that require memorization; as inputing different combos with them make them more powerful and overall better to use. The special moves are predominantly based off of Street Fighter's combo system. There are various competitive techniques hidden in the game, as "glitches" hidden in a similar way to Super Smash Bros. Melee's wavedashing and l-cancelling though actually intended to be in the game. One hidden technique is based off of l-cancelling itself; if a specific button is pressed 15 frames or less before hitting the ground; it reduces lag upon hitting the ground, and the same thing happens if one airdodges into it. Rolls can also be sped up as well with the right timing, enabling competitive play to be much faster. Also if the player is hit by enough physical attacks while in shield, the player will use an automatic parry. There are also fatalities, similar to those of the Mortal Kombat series, but far less gory in order to keep the game at a T rating. They function the exact same way as in Mortal Kombat; after an opponent's health has been taken away the player can perform a powerful attack, ultimately finishing them off or good. In the game settings they can be turned off, creating somewhat faster fights; this is often used in competitive play. Overall, the game engine is similar to that of the Street Fighter series, with characters having hard to execute, combo-based moves, and little mobility in the arenas. Since the games both had the same developers, it is very easy to see the similarities between Street Fighter and HKM. History The idea of the game started in late 2014, with Capcom contacting Tiertex about the topic of a reboot of the very obscure Human Killing Machine game; a supposed sequel to the original Street Fighter. Despite not having developed a video game since the early 2000s, Tiertex responded, stating that the idea of a reboot sounds interesting. In August 2015, Tiertex responded, telling Capcom they want to get to work on the reboot. Development began later that month; with Capcom and Tiertex using the engine of Street Fighter V. In September 2015, Capcom contacted Next Level Games to help with some of the character designs as they developed Punch-Out!! Wii, despite them only creating one character; Disco Kid. They accepted and sent some developers to work on the game. Later that year, in November, Square Enix requested to work on the game as one of their subsidiaries, U.S. Gold, now part of Eidos Interactive, helped make the original. The game was first shown off at E3 2016, gaining mixed reactions among the gaming community, mostly because of the developers. Seeing that it was being developed by Capcom and a company which hadn't made an actual game since 2003. Most gamers saw the game as a potential disaster; especially as there was no demo to play. Others found the concept of rebooting a long-dead and very obscure series interesting, and were relatively optimistic over how the game would turn out. Development went on as normal, and E3 came in 2017, this time an actual demo was shown off. Most gamers were relatively impressed as they thought the game was doomed to be a failure, liking the fusion between many fighting game engines. Afterwards, hope for a good experience were relatively high as the demo was enjoyed by most players. The game was released in Japan on June 27, shortly after E3. The game received decent amounts of praise, although it had numerous of the criticisms that most Capcom games have. For example, the game had DLC put on the disc of the game, despite Capcom trying to lure player into buying it buy putting in version-exclusive crossover DLC characters, such as Mario and Kratos. The game's stereotypical characters gave it negative views among the international community and some countries even banned the game. Modes Battle The Battle Mode is the regular fighting mode; simply pick a character, pick the opponent, and fight each other. There are numerous settings players can pick from in order to make the game more unique; for example, as mentioned before in the modes fatalities can be turned on and off; also it is possible to switch special or physical moves off; it is the simplest mode in the game. Multiplayer Multiplayer is essentially the same as Battle mode, except it has more than one player. It is generally considered the "party mode" of the game; there is nothing very notable about it other than this. Classic This mode is slightly based off of the Classic Mode from the Super Smash Bros. series, with additions of the arcade modes in most fighting arcade games from the 1990s. The player fights a gauntlet of random fighters, and must not lose any of them. There are numerous different difficulties; Easy having five fighters, Normal having ten, Hard having fifteen, and Expert having twenty. The final boss is always Merkeva, although if he is being played as the final boss is main character Kwon. Arcade This mode is very similar to Classic, except that the player must defeat every fighter they have unlocked, in a similar fashion to Super Smash Bros.'s All-Star Mode. However, unlike Classic, all of the fighters have sub-par AI in order to make the mode not completely impossible fore the players. All the damage the player takes is permanent unless if they use a healing item. Tourney This mode is ideal for when there is more than two players starting a game. It is simply a tournament of between 4 and 64 people, being either actual humans or CPUs. The CPU battles can be skipped if they are added into the tourney, and their AI levels can be changed too. This mode is usually used in competitive HKM play. Online The online multiplayer of the game. Before going online, the player selects the settings they want their battle to have similar to those in Battle and Multiplayer; then the player proceeds to fight a random player from around the world that picked the exact same settings as they did. Story The story mode is mostly based off of the story modes in the Street Fighter series. The game doesn't have too complex of a story, the mode was mostly added for the sake of adding a story. Story Mode gives the player much more mobility than the other modes, giving them the ability to explore wide, non-linear areas. The mode plays mostly like a 2D beat-em-up with various attributes from various other game series. Each of the game's characters also have their own sub-stories in which the player is able to play upon beating the wider, overarching story mode. Playable Characters Default Unlockable DLC Characters Tier List Category:Fighting Games Category:Street Fighter (series) Category:Human Killing Machine (series) Category:Sequels Category:Reboots